On behalf of all faculty and staff: Welcome back to NDLS! As we start a new academic year, here is an update on new people, programs, and activities at the Law School.

Faculty NewsFirst, although she is not new to us, Professor Veronica Root is assuming a new role as an associate professor. For the past two years, Professor Root was a visiting assistant professor, having left her practice at Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., to come to NDLS…

Islamic State (ISIS) militants who beheaded American journalist James Foley in Syria this week reportedly had demanded $132.5 million in ransom for his release.

Collecting ransom payments is a principal source of funding for ISIS, according to terrorist financing expert Jimmy Gurulé, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, who says making such a payment is a federal crime.

Working pro bono, Charlie Weiss,’68 JD, and fellow Bryan Cave attorney Thor Mathison have won the freedom of Alonzo Martin, who had been jailed in 2007 and later committed without a trial to Missouri state psychiatric hospitals.

Dallas attorney, Daniel P. Novakov, ’72 BA, ’76 J.D., a Greenberg Traurig shareholder, is named chairman of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association in the first season of the new college football playoff system. Novakov was part of the Notre Dame football team that played in the Cotton Bowl against the Longhorns in both 1970 and 1971. Read more (subscription required)